Our second time with Oceania, first time on Riviera. Beautiful ship, accommodations were first rate. Our Concierge Level stateroom was beautiful, plenty of room.
The staff, as always, was over the top. Our heartfelt thanks ... Read More

Our second time with Oceania, first time on Riviera. Beautiful ship, accommodations were first rate. Our Concierge Level stateroom was beautiful, plenty of room.
The staff, as always, was over the top. Our heartfelt thanks particularly to Carla and Melissa.
We have some suggestions for making Red Ginger an even better dining experience which we will detail in our review which we will mail in.
The days at sea were very nice, and there were plenty of activities to keep everyone busy on those days without everything seeming too crowded.
The Grand Dining Room is our favorite dining venue, not taking anything away from the specialty restaurants, which were all outstanding. The GDR had a great selection and variety each evening, and the breakfasts there were nice and relaxing.
The ports of call were all very interesting, and it was nice to be the only ship in at a few of them. Read Less

From the moment you arrive you know this is a luxury cruise. The size of the ship is just right. Four specialty restaurants add to the appeal, each one excellent. Jacques, Polo Grill, Toscana and Red Ginger, can't say enough about them. ... Read More

From the moment you arrive you know this is a luxury cruise. The size of the ship is just right. Four specialty restaurants add to the appeal, each one excellent. Jacques, Polo Grill, Toscana and Red Ginger, can't say enough about them. Every member of the staff went out of their way to make this a memorable cruise. Attentive, pleasant, courteous. The food was excellent and the pastry chef gets 5 stars for the wonderful chocolate desserts. We enjoyed the various music around the ship, the string quartet, small ensemble and the Riviera orchestra. Our cabin on the Concierge level was immaculate and our steward/stewardess were a delight and paid attention to every detail. We chose to do private shore excursions as we are avid snorkelers and had previous experience in Roatan and Costa Maya, so we have no review of the excursions. This is our third Oceania cruise and it did not disappoint, we will be booking again soon. Read Less

I am writing this to help other new cruisers on Oceania. We had many questions before we left...some that we were uncertain of...and I hope this helps.
Our cruise was the Mayan Mystique...10 days...MIA to MIA.
The ship is in ... Read More

I am writing this to help other new cruisers on Oceania. We had many questions before we left...some that we were uncertain of...and I hope this helps.
Our cruise was the Mayan Mystique...10 days...MIA to MIA.
The ship is in wonderful shape! Very clean...beautiful artwork throughout.
This ship is undoubtedly for luxury and food. Here are a few bulleted thoughts:
~The pool is very quiet. Too quiet for me. But relaxing. The lounge chairs have fitted sheet over cushioned chairs. There are "beds" as well. We never had a problem finding a seat in the sun or shade. The pool is not large but large enough. There are 2 hot tubs.
~The food is incredible. I did not have one item that was not excellent. This is the highlight of the ship. I gained a lot of weight. :(
~The drinks are not strong, but if you take advantage of happy hour there are worth it. But, at happy hour (2 for 1) the drink must be the same drink.
~Speaking of alcohol, even though their policy states otherwise, they do not care how much you bring on and you CAN bring it on at each port. Beer, wine ,hard liquor...doesn't matter. They do not care.
~The service is impeccable. Everyone was very nice and very accommodating. Extra friendly. It bothered me that so many people never said please and thank you. If you go on this ship, be polite! These people work their tails off.
~I've read many reviews about sickness on the boat. I did not see one sick person, other than the one that passed away, and never felt sick. They go over and beyond to make sure this does not happen. You never handle your own food until it is on your plate, no ice machines, etc.
~The entertainment was top notch. The "World Beat" show was one of the best I've ever seen.
~Many debates about tipping on top of what they add. I did not see a single person tip on this ship. Doesn't mean you can't, but for those wondering...that's that.
~The median age on this ship is about 65. There are many scooters, wheelchairs, walkers, etc. You will not be moving fast around the ship.
My last comment is this: this experience for my wife and I was wonderful. We had a fantastic time! The people are great, everything is very organized, the food is top notch, and I could go on and on. If you did not have a good time on this ship, this truly is a "you" problem. You could not ask much more of a ship to give you a great time! Read Less

Looking for cruise in warmer location in the winter. Never visited NZ/AUS. Heard good things about Oceania. Liked small ship. Regatta is "Old" but we did not notice any particular defects. We had two ports cancelled due to ... Read More

Looking for cruise in warmer location in the winter. Never visited NZ/AUS. Heard good things about Oceania. Liked small ship. Regatta is "Old" but we did not notice any particular defects. We had two ports cancelled due to stormy weather for safety reasons. Disappointing but beyond control of Oceania. Cost of missed tours was refunded. No mechanical problems that we were aware of.
Embarkation went smoothly. We had priority boardung due to cabin location. Fairly large que for concierge class and below at the check in. Rooms onboard not ready until about 1:30 PM. Everyone ends up in the buffet line until room is ready.
Cabin air conditioning somewhat loud, but not overpowering. We did not find the electric outlets a problem. All of our plugin equipment worked on 220V. Room came with a Laptop computer. This device is only useful for using the internet. It can't upload any personal files (thumb drive) or save anything like camera downloads. So, bring your own laptop if you need to do any serious work.
Overall a positive experience. Would book Oceania again. Read Less

My wife and I chose Oceania because the company had a good reputation among some of our friends, who are seasoned travelers. We had been satisfied with previous cruise lines, i.e., Crystal, but Oceania had the best travel time for us. Our ... Read More

My wife and I chose Oceania because the company had a good reputation among some of our friends, who are seasoned travelers. We had been satisfied with previous cruise lines, i.e., Crystal, but Oceania had the best travel time for us. Our excitement of seeing the Regatta from the outside gave way to gross disappointment when first taking in the so-called renovated interior. It had a very dated appearance, reminiscent of the first cruise we took 43 years ago. This view was shared by all of our many friends, whom we were fortunate enough to meet on board. Apparently, the other Oceania ships are nicer. That being said, the ship was spotlessly clean.
Our stewards were a highlight of the trip and basically served as our private concierges.
Otherwise, service was a mixed bag. By in large, it was excellent throughout, but with several glitches. For example, we requested morning coffee in our cabin. The waiters were as nice as could be, yet we often had to call several times because our order had been forgotten. In another instance, a sommelier had total screwed up our bill that we had to stay for an extra 20 minutes till he tried unsuccessfully to straight it out.
Many of our friends did not like the food, but we did. Helping size was small but typically we can always ask for more. We are both fish eaters and were astonished to find out that they rarely served fresh fish. As a result frozen lobsters were terrible. We complained to the head chefs in 2 restaurants, who noted that it was company policy? Yet, huge fish markets at most ports. Humm! The speciality restaurants (Polo and Toscano) were hardly special. All fluff with no stuff. Menus did not change. 2 bad entrees there! Indian and Asian buffets were exceptional with legitimate native choices. Wine was good with a large selection and rather inexpensive!
Passengers were disappointed that the ship did not dock at Akoroa (Christ Church) and we bypassed Milford Sound, ostensibly because of bad weather. No fault of of the ship unless the captain made a bad choice.
The costs of excursions were out of sight and inflexible. We booked only one trip with Oceania for a 10 hour drive along the Great Ocean Road in Geelong. Because my wife wasn’t feeling well, we had to cx, but they would not return money even though there was a waiting list. Shame on them! Fortunately, I had made reservations in all of the other ports with private companies at a fraction of the Oceania cost and greater flexibility We were very pleased with global Viator and local Zealandier. Both were communicative and provided great tour guides.
Opting for the WiFi package saved us a lot of money, but the bandwidth was weak and no more than one device can be used at a time. Ancient!
Entertainment was good to excellent, even though the showman always catered to an older audience. Enrichment activities were inadequate. The ship needs at least one nationally recognized presenter per cruise.
The laundry room was a disaster! Only 3 operating washer-dryers for 600+ passengers. 3 hours to wash underwear in a small hot room with guests who paid a lot of money needing to sit on the floor! Really?
The bottom line is that we like cruising will not ever use Oceania. The value is overrated! Read Less

Cruised on this vessel Dec 6, 2017 to Dec. 21 2017 off South Africa.
3 Ports were cancelled
Service was sub par
Food was sub par
Maintenance was sub par
Attitude of staff was sorry can,t help you
We have spent over 55 ... Read More

Cruised on this vessel Dec 6, 2017 to Dec. 21 2017 off South Africa.
3 Ports were cancelled
Service was sub par
Food was sub par
Maintenance was sub par
Attitude of staff was sorry can,t help you
We have spent over 55 days travelling on Insignia and Nautica and have never had Now we find that the information given to us on departure that the credit balance due to the cancellations would be applied to our credit cards was not correct after three attempts a cheque has not been issued.
I would warn anyone thinking of using this firm or their parent company Norwegian to exercise great caution.
Last year we took a 35 day cruise on the same ship from Hong Kong to Athens and had the finest cruise of our lives, what can possible change so drastically in an organization of this size that would lead to this kind of decline. As you can probably tell I Read Less

We are aboard the Nautica right now on the Cape Town to Cape Town trip. I wanted to let you all know a few things so you may not be as crushed as I am feeling right now. First, the pre-cruise tour has been the absolute highlight of this ... Read More

We are aboard the Nautica right now on the Cape Town to Cape Town trip. I wanted to let you all know a few things so you may not be as crushed as I am feeling right now. First, the pre-cruise tour has been the absolute highlight of this trip. Otherwise, I am feeling cheated by a line that we have loved in the past. Cheated out of the holidays as there isn't a single decoration on the ship (a first for a Christmas cruise for us....the ships are usually wonderful) which we had looked forward to in lieu of having anything up at home. Cheated out of money....promises were made about concierge class when we upgraded and the amenities they promised do not exist on this ship. We could have stayed with oceanview and been fine....can't use the balcony as they seas have been rough. The hot tubs are not hot. The food is beyond bland even in the specialty restaurants. Jacques Pepin should be embarrassed to have his name on this. Entertainment is the worst of any Oceania ship we have been on....we don't expect much but this has been terrible and exacerbated by several ports being cancelled. We missed Mossel Bay because the seas were too rough to tender in yet somehow despite having all that extra sailing time we were late to Richards Bay so our game drive was cut short and our guide took the fact that he waited all morning for us out on us by talking to everyone he passed on the road, stopping to watch dung beetles, stopping for a potty break nobody wanted or needed given that we has less time to tour and then said "You could have seen more if you had been on time". Seriously??? Like we had any say in the matter? Then we got to Maputo, where the last time they called there it took 5 hours to clear the ship through immigration (they want to fingerprint and photograph everyone on the ship), the customs people showed up late and then couldn't process people so we left. This appears to be an ongoing problem so I am not sure why Oceania keeps going to this port. Got to Durbin about 1.5 hours early (again, despite having extra sailing time) and went on our scheduled coastal and city tour which was driving in a bus down the highways and interstates with no views to have a 5 minute stop at a beach and a 5 minute stop at a vacant lot in a neighborhood overlooking the city to take pictures of the city through a barb wire fence and then drove through the slums of Durbin. If you scheduled this tour, I suggest you skip it and take a shuttle to the marine park/shopping area. You cannot walk out of the port...must have a bus or taxi though there were few of those around so we couldn't go out in the evening. The tour of Tala Game Reserve was wonderful! Do this! So, that brings us to now. Last night they announced that bad weather is expected so we will overnight in New London and miss Port Elizabeth....don't know why we couldn't stay at New London all day the second day so we could do another excursion or go shopping....anything off the ship but we will leave at 10 a.m.. So, we get one more day on land and three more excruciating days at sea. If you booked your excursions via O Life, you do not get any credit for ones you miss due to cancellations of ports so you cannot even use credits to drink or spa. Our much anticipated African adventure has become a feeling of being held hostage at sea. We started with Oceania on our honeymoon when then the line was new. 15 years later, this will be our last trip with them. I thought this would be a luxurious way to sample Africa but all we are seeing is the inside of a ship. Maybe we will get to see Namibia but I am not holding my breath. Read Less

A fabulous crossing from Barcelona to Miami. The absolute best cuisine at sea. Despite the December transAtlantic, the ocean cooperated with calm seas and mild weather. The ship, service, LaReserve, food & wine at its best!
We ... Read More

A fabulous crossing from Barcelona to Miami. The absolute best cuisine at sea. Despite the December transAtlantic, the ocean cooperated with calm seas and mild weather. The ship, service, LaReserve, food & wine at its best!
We enjoy sea days, having experienced 6 crossings. Marina (and sister ship) are the largest ships we ever cruise - a perfect size for us.
Food quality is reliably superb. Wine selections generous by the glass - and good variety of premium wine for dinner venues. Barista's coffee bar is an early morning gathering place for cruisers. Fitness Center is busy on sea days mid-mornings; the band/orchestra played good jazz, easy listening, and dancing music. Pianist offered excellent arrangements and easy music for pre-dining cocktails. Wish we had booked a B2B and stayed on board for the next leg of the itinerary.
Peaceful and beautiful relaxing cruise across the Atlantic Ocean. We'll be back! Read Less

We chose to book a Caribbean cruise on Oceania Riviera as we wanted to experience a luxury cruise ship and it was amazing. We loved the stylish decor, paintings, works of art, the Lalique staircase, comfortable lounge areas , ample seating ... Read More

We chose to book a Caribbean cruise on Oceania Riviera as we wanted to experience a luxury cruise ship and it was amazing. We loved the stylish decor, paintings, works of art, the Lalique staircase, comfortable lounge areas , ample seating up in Horizons bar/lounge...the anytime dining was great no pressures. We enjoyed meals in the Grand Dining Room we prebooked meals in Jacques and in Red Ginger all these are waiter service and you choose from menu .... however we did not enjoy our meals in Polo Grill and Toscana. The choice of food in the main Terrace Buffet restaurant was excellent - it is buffet style mostly food is all behind glass it's quirky as the Staff put your choice on your plate. Afternoon tea 4pm in Horizons was presented beautifully a lovely idea. Snacks available at pool area from the Waves Grill and at the Coffee Bar . Ships entertainment team was just about ok nothing very special one show at 9.30 pm . Service on board was excellent especially so on sunny sea days when poolside staff could be seen trying their very best to place loungers in the sunshine for those guests looking to settle in the sun for the day . Our cabin was Penthouse deck 11 - lovely room - the only negative on deck 11 was the large overhang above as it cut out a lot of our sky and sun ......also we had access to Executive Lounge just down corridor.... sounds like a bonus but very disappointing it is just a very quite room with sofa , coffee and biscuits, photocopied newspapers and some I pads ...not sure what it's trying to be it was just a shorter walk for us to go get an early morning takeaway coffee there for our cabin. This was a new experience for us , we boarded in Miami , the ships guests were mostly Adults and mostly Americans, we would recommend this ship so glad we did this cruise. Our only negative was regards our total on board credit of $600 we didn't realise that the gratuities for housekeeping and butler were fixed they are not discretionary or recommended amounts as is actually stated in our cruise ship brochure : our gratuities for 10 days were total of $460 which left us $140 for alcoholic drinks for 10 day cruise : 1glass of wine each with our evening meal cost around $25 : our cruising inexperience shows here maybe but nevertheless we really enjoyed the Riviera Cruise Ship and we would definitely recommend it. Read Less

We choose this cruise because of the itinerary and we wanted to experience a smaller ship. We are glad we did the cruise, however, smaller ships are “not our cup of tea.” We did not think there was much to do and will stick ... Read More

We choose this cruise because of the itinerary and we wanted to experience a smaller ship. We are glad we did the cruise, however, smaller ships are “not our cup of tea.” We did not think there was much to do and will stick to Oceania and Regent’s larger ships. Here are out thoughts and opinions:
Air Arrangements – GRADE F. We have never had such poor air arrangements. Oceania did not even book partner airlines for domestic and international travel. This meant 1) we could only check one bag each (we planned on checking our carry on too), 2) could only get boarding passes for domestic portion of air arrangements, 3) we had to take a bus from one part of terminal to another, 4) leave security and take a train from one terminal to another, 5) get new boarding passes for international flight and check two more bags, 6) our seats were next to bathrooms so paid extra to move forward away from bathrooms. On the way home, Oceania booked us a 10:30 p.m. flight even though we had to leave the ship at 9:00 a.m. They offered no tours with drop off at airport as most cruise lines we have taken do. On board ship they offered no help for the return flight home and suggested we book a hotel room for the day!
Cabin – grade A. We were in a penthouse and the room was well appointed and quiet. However, the bathroom might be the smallest we have ever had.
Food – GRADE B+ to A-. Steaks, fish and sometimes lobster tended to be under-cooked for our taste. Buffet food was not as good as the Mariner or Riviera, but better than other cruise lines. Offering lobster and steaks each evening in the buffet was very enjoyable. The main dining room offered good food, good service and for the most part a notch above other cruise lines. There are two specialty restaurants and both were excellent with friendly and helpful hosts.
Staff- GRADE A. All staff and crew members were very friendly. This is a definite plus for the ship and Oceania.
Oceania Shore Excursions – GRADE B. While the guides for the most part were good, there tended to be an over emphasis on taking people to shop for jewelry, glass, and other types of shops. While we did appreciate stops at local markets, many places had booths/stalls each selling basically the same thing. Read Less

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